Mantis Peace Envoy
by DannyFenton123
Summary: A Zoltan peace envoy is attacked and captured by a trio of Mantis pirates. One side is individual and pacifistic, the other hivemined and warlike; can something still come out of the wayward mission for nonviolence in the universe?
1. Capture

"We've breached their overshields!" Lisandra growled. "Magmar - take the shields in case they do anything funny. Notch - you and me are boarding this pathetic ship, and strippin' it bare!"

"Yes Capt'n!" Notch skittered eagerly after the veteran Mantis. The two's long six-legged bodies could barely fit in the teleporter at the same time.

A bright flash of light shone and quickly died, revealing an entirely different ship from the Mantis'. This one had a clean, green-ish interior with glowing yellow controls overlooking a clear view out into space.

The sharp end of one of Lisandras feet smashed into the ground, drawing Notch's attention. "Argh! That Zoltan's not in the Piloting. Notch, quit taking in the scenery and help me break down this door!"

As Notch came to help, a calm voice transmitted through the speakers. "This was a Zoltan peace envoy. We meant no harm and we carry no riches."

"Hah, did'ja hear that Notch?" Lisandra struck out with their front arms and tore a massive hole in the doors. "That's what any rich meatbag says with'is back to the wall!"

"We do not understand, then, why you attacked us. We can only conclude that it is beings like you who have so utterly decimated our galaxy with your bloodlust."

Notch paused a second, trying their best to work out exactly what the meaning of big words like 'conclude' and 'decimate' meant. To their credit, they did have a fairly good understanding of what 'bloodlust' was.

Lisandra saw this hesitation. "Don't bother. A confused Mantis is a dead Mantis!"

Notch shook themselves, and with a final few blows they had completely shredded the doors. The two burst into what appeared to be the Medbay, where a faintly glowing green lifeform was standing.

When they saw Lisandra and Notch, they immediately held their hands up. "You have your victory. I only request my life."

"Haha!" Lisandra stepped forward. "Come on, you Zoltan. At least put up a fight."

The Zoltan remained motionless. Their yellow eyes were devoid of pupils, but they seemed to be staring at Notch with an intense gaze.

Lisandra was less than pleased.

"Weakling! I'm going to kill you anyway, but this is no honourable way to die!"

Somewhat uncomfortable, Notch felt compelled to speak up. "Maybe we don't have to kill the Zoltan?"

"What!" Lisandra snapped their head around to glare at their crew member.

"I'm just saying... if there's no glory in killing them without a fight we can sell them to a slave trader?"

Lisandra seemed to be considering. "I thought for a second you were starting deep space dementia, but that is a good idea. The Homeworld Slugs in the next sector pay good scrap for Zoltan." They turned back to the peaceful being. "You are a very lucky lifeform. It is not often the great pirate Lisandra spares their enemies."

The Zoltan did not look particularly grateful..

"Come on, don't you have anything to say? I saw you speak just a few seconds ago!" They hissed. "Fine. A quiet prisoner is the best prisoner; escort them to the hold, Notch!"


	2. Breach

As the FTL drive charged, the Mantis stripped the Zoltan ship to a barely-airtight shell floating dead in space. They found absolutely no weapons on board.

Back on their Mantis Fighter, the three were crowded in the weapons room as they waited for the FTL to charge (for a fearsome ship, they were rather lacking in engine power). They ate meat for dinner and recounted the boarding adventure to Magmar, still keeping an eye on the alarms for any incoming trouble.

Magmar nodded along to the tale, their scent betraying mild interest despite their silence. This Mantis, Notch remembered, had been part of a hive with exceptionally large mandibles. Though these were fearsome to wield in a fight, they were rendered unable to speak English and confined to the traditional Mantis language. Notch sometimes found this difficult to understand, as they had not been born speaking Mantis and the two languages did not translate well.

"And that Zoltan, 'e wouldn't fight in the slightest!" Lisandra was speaking. "Lucky Notch had a better idea." They turned to speak to Notch directly. "You're barely an adult, but you'll make a legendary pirate with that sort of thinking!"

"Really?"

Magmar began making a clicking sound, and Notch caught: "Yes...Repair."

Lisandra burst out laughing. "Oh yes, Magmar. You may have done well today, but you're still our only repair crew. Y'know, we should really buy an Engi sometime... maybe with all the money we'll get from our Zoltan?"

Before the others could respond, however, there was the sound of a dull thump against the hull. Lisandra and Magmar reacted instantly, one checking the monitor for breaches and the other standing ready for orders. Notch jumped up to help just a second later.

"Where?" Magmar clicked.

"Here, down in the hold. It looks like a piece of scrap made it through the shields and breached... but how?"

Magmar took this as their cue to run left to the shields. Lisandra looked over at Notch.

"Repair duty for you, Notch." They ordered.

"Yes, Capt'n!" The mantis went to the Engine Room on the right, where there was a small repair kit and a set of stairs led down to the hold. Stairs were a little awkward for the Mantis' six legs, so they slowed right down.

The familiar whistling noise of a breach greeted them, as well as a strange green glow. This confused them until they saw the Zoltan, who was sitting crisscrossed in a cage with their eyes closed.

Notch thought about turning on a light, but the green Zoltan glow was actually pretty good on its own. They quietly skittered over to where the breach was, grabbing some nearby scrap to work with.

The hole was quite small, Notch observed. It shouldn't take more than five minutes.

They brought out some duct tape from their repair kit: the greatest human invention in the eyes of the Mantis because of how much it sped along repairs. However when they loudly ripped off a piece, the light suddenly died down and they could no longer see.

"It's you." The Zoltan spoke from behind, startling Notch. They hissed and glared at the humanoid.

"That light, it was useful. Turn it back on!"

The Zoltan answered evenly. "I'm afraid I cannot. I was deep in meditation when you disturbed me."

"What's meditation?"

"It is to sit down, and think deeply. To retreat from the outside world and centre oneself in order- you are not listening."

Notch had scampered over to turn on a light. The hold lit up with a harsh yellow glare, and they were aware of the Zoltan's calm stare as they returned to the breach.

The green humanoid spoke again. "I want to give you my apologies, Mantis."

"Why?" Notch was trying their best to both listen to the Zoltan and repair the breach at the same time, but Mantis were not known for their multitasking talent.

"I spoke harshly to you in the ship. At that moment I believed you to be past salvation, but after some thought I realise I regret my words."

"Harshly?"

"Harshly, like with anger. I insulted your kind."

Notch snorted. "What? You should hear what all the other ships say to us! Besides, it's kinda fun to hear that stuff; we were gonna kill them anyway so they can... harshly us all they want!"

"I see." There was a hint of disappointment in the humanoid's tone.

After an awkward moment of silence, Notch spoke up again. "I said harshly right, right?"

"To fly a ship, one must first patch one's breaches in understanding."

The Mantis jumped, having forgotten completely about the breach they had been sent to repair. They slapped some duct tape on the hole before taking a welder from their repair kit.

After a considerable amount of effort holding the welder in the proper position with their barely opposable thumbs, they repaired the breach and stood up.

"So..." Notch looked over at the Zoltan, who had begun to meditate again. "We're jumping now. After some jumps we'll arrive at the Slug Nebula. Until then... be a quiet Zoltan."

"My name is Sem." The Zoltan said, much to the confusion of Notch.

"Okay?" They turned and walked out of the hold, leaving Sem alone.


	3. Mistake

"FTL charged!" Lisandra spoke to Notch in the Weapons Room through the speakers. "Ready?"

"Yes, Capt'n!" Notch shouted back.

"Ready!" Magmar clicked from the shields.

"Alright." The ship began to emit a high-powered whirr. " _Glory through violence_!"

" _Glory through violence_!" The crew shouted back, and in a split second the noise began to die down again. They were at a new beacon; almost immediately the ship's sensors picked up a nearby ship, broadcasting an image to the weapons screen Notch was in front of.

Lisandra was keeping up a constant commentary. "Rebel rigger on starboard! She's a two-shielder with nothing but a dual laser, easy target! She sees our pirate markings – concentrate burst laser on their shields so we can beam 'em out with our halberd!"

Notch quickly targeted the desired system. It began to charge, charge...

"Jump!" Magmar warned.

"No, no, they're jumping! Laser to the helm!"

Flustered by the sudden order, Notch wasn't quite fast enough to redirect fire. Two slammed into the shields and the third ripped into the shield systems, no doubt causing a small amount of havoc inside.

"Notch!" The sharp tone made the Mantis cringe. "I told you to fire at the helm!"

"I tried to, but-"

"Jump now!" Magmar interrupted. The ship was most likely only a few seconds away from escape.

Lisandra growled. "Fine. Redirect power to the teleporter and I'll deal with this mess."

"But-" Notch heard a beep as the comms system was shut off. With a groan, they took power out of the weapons to work the teleporter and beamed their captain aboard.

Then they could only sit back and watch the screens. Their sensors couldn't quite pick up the inside of the enemy ship but they did detect four life signatures after the teleporter fired.

For a long moment, everything remained the same. The jump warning was still in place. Then:

 **FTL JUMP DELAYED. 3 LIFE SIGS ON BOARD.**

Notch let out a hiss of relief just as another notification popped up.

 **FTL JUMP DELAYED. 2 LIFE SI-**

 **FTL JUMP DELAYED. 1 LIFE SIGS ON BOARD.**

Then the enemy ship began to hail them. Judging by the fact it was no longer attempting a jump, Notch assumed the best and opened communications.

Lisandra's rather displeased face showed up on the screen. They had some sort of dark liquid sprayed around their mandibles – no prizes for guessing what it was.

"The humans have been taken care of." Lisandra spoke curtly. "Notch, teleport over and help me scrap this ship. Magmar, stay and guard. Lisandra out."

Notch left their position and skittered over to the teleporter. They stood in place and in a matter of moments were teleported over to the ship. They landed in what appeared to be a large Medbay fitted with an equally large system. Everything appeared normal except for a limp hand stuck between one of the doors.

There they paused, unsure of what to do until a door slid open from behind and startled them.

"There you are." Lisandra stalked into the room. One of their arms was completely covered up to the elbow in half-dried blood, and the rest of their body was still heavily smattered by the stuff.

Notch immediately started talking. "Capt'n, I can explain! The lasers were just firing when I tried to switch to the helm. It would have been impossible to-"

"Are you saying you're too slow for a fight?" Lisandra shot back.

"No! I-"

"Then you should've hit the _helm_!" In a burst of rage, the Mantis struck out at the Medical system. It sparked and whirred and clunked and died. Notch recoiled.

"Mantis, are born to fight." Lisandra spoke slowly, heavily. "A Mantis, who cannot fight, should not have been born. Do you understand, Notch?"

"Yes, Capt'n!" Notch immediately answered. "I completely understand. It won't happen again!"

Lisandra turned, suddenly seeming a lot more pleased than a split second ago. They held their bloody arm up to the ceiling. "Glory though violence!"

"Glory through violence!" Notch repeated, raising their arm as well. Lisandra laughed.

"Good. You learn quickly for such a young Mantis." They trotted out through the door the hand had been trapped in. "Now 'elp me scrap this ship, will ya?"

~Line Break~

The two Mantis were just beginning to scrap the Engine Room when their Mantis ship began to hail them. Magmar appeared on the screen.

"Breach." They clicked.

"There's a hull breach?" Lisandra asked. "Where?"

"Hold."

"Again? Argh... we'll have to investigate this later. For now; Notch!"

"Yes, Capt'n!"

"You're on repair duty. Beam 'em back, Mag."

Magmar teleported the young Mantis back, who immediately made their way back to the Engine Room. They saw down in the hold that the Zoltan was glowing again, but this time they switched on the light.

Sem cracked open their eyes at this disturbance. "Greetings, Mantis."

"Uh, hello." Notch spotted the breach in exactly the same place as before and made their way over.

"So, you hit the shields when you were supposed to hit the helm." The Zoltan's words made Notch jump.

"What? How did you know that?"

"You shout your orders."

"Oh, right." They hesitated. "So?"

"It was simply an observation. Continue."

Notch shuffled to the breach and examined it. It appeared that the piece of scrap welded over the hole had come loose and somehow punctured the duct tape seal. There was nothing for it but to redo the procedure with a little more care than last time.

After repairing the breach, Sem spoke again.

"Mantis, do you happen to have any sustenance on board?"

"Suste-what?"

"Food. I haven't eaten since my capture."

Notch stood up, suddenly realising the truth of this statement. "Ah. I'll- we have... meat?"

"That will not do."

"We don't have anything else!" They snapped.

"Calm down, I meant no insult by that statement." Sem looked over at the rest of the hold. "Perhaps there is some salvage that would be useful. Rebel ships contain three months' worth emergency rations in their Medbays each."

"They do?"

"They are the oval-shaped capsules implanted in aluminium sheets."

"Those are rations?" Notch distinctly remembered using those as throwing projectiles when they were attacking an Engi ship, to great effect. Now very curious, the Mantis skittered over to the smashed Medbay system they had looted and opened a draw. They carefully drew out what appeared to be a baking tray and handed it to the Zoltan.

"My thanks." Sem took it, poked a hole in the sheet and drew out one of the capsules. Notch watched them break it in half and put one end in their mouth, chewing quickly and swallowing. They then looked up at the Mantis. "Are you also in need of sustenance?"

"No, no! Just... how does your mouth do that?"

Sem blinked. "I do not know. I never had a particular interest in anatomy."

"Anatomy?"

"A study of the body." The Zoltan paused. "You are a very curious Mantis. What is your name?"

Notch cocked their head. "Why do you keep asking me that? It's not important."

"How intriguing! In Zoltan space, a name is one of the first things one is told about a person. It is extremely important."

The Mantis blinked. "My name is-"

"Notch!" There was a shout from upstairs, and the two saw Lisandra at the top of the steps. They were carrying a large hunk of scrap. "Whatta you doing?"

Notch backed up, lost for words. A calm voice spoke for them.

"This Mantis was merely offering me food." Sem motioned towards the ration tray. "They realised I would starve before we reached the Slug nebula and-"

"Shut up, Zoltan!" Lisandra snarled, then looked to Notch. "Is this true?"

Notch nodded quickly. They watched their captain put down the scrap and turn to face them.

"Notch." They hissed, and the young Mantis bowed their head in shame. "That's... brilliant!"

Notch's head shot back up. "Huh?"

"I never would have remembered to keep this Zoltan alive! And you finally found out a use for those strange rebel bullet things!" They nudged the young Mantis as they passed back up the stairs. "Talk about a turnaround. Now come on, I'll need some 'elp carrying the engines..."

Lisandra disappeared, leaving the Mantis and the Zoltan alone again. The two looked at each other.

"My name is, uh, Notch." Notch backed up to the stairs and skittered away.


	4. Fire

"Nothing!" Lisandra was ranting from the helm, their voice coming through the speakers. "All that effort jumpin' for nothing! I hate empty beacons."

"Jump again?"

"I _know_ we can jump again, Magmar! But not right now, and I feel like beating something into the ground right now!"

Notch gulped, and leaned towards the speaker. "I-it'll be charged soon, you know."

"But not. Right. Now! Argh, this is the worst!"

All of a sudden Notch's screen lit up with a warning.

"Capt'n, there's a-"

"Incoming ship! Two ships! Oh, the hive queens have answered my call for glory... One of them's hailing us!"

One Rock Scout sped past the Mantis in a blur, but a Zoltan ship with pirate markings slowed and ominously passed by Notch's side window. A message appeared on screen:

 **STAY OUT OF THIS AND YOU COULD PROFIT**

"Hmmm." Lisandra spoke again. "In normal circumstances I would take their offer, but I'm bored! Let's tear 'em to shreds!"

"Capt'n, are you sure?" Notch gulped as they examined the Zoltan's weapon systems. "That's an ion and a glaive beam on their ship!"

"Relax Notch, there's nothing a Mantis like yourself can't beat!" They briefly paused, before continuing: "Isn't that right?"

"Uhh, right."

"That's the spirit! Now concentrate fire on whatever, I wanna break down their overshield quickly. Glory through violence!"

Notch opened up both weapons and began to charge. The other pirate ship recognised this as an attack and brought out both of theirs in turn. The Mantis silently gulped as they saw the fearsome beam weapon come online on the screen.

The ion charged quickly, and fired. Notch saw the shield systems flicker on their screen.

"They're targeting shields!" Lisandra growled. Magmar made a series of completely untranslatable clicks. "Hey! You don't get to tell me I'm saying the obvious!"

After a couple of salvos from the ion that decimated their shields, their burst laser had charged. Notch aimed for the shields and fired: two shots slammed against the shield but the last missed.

"There we go!" Lisandra cheered. "Now we're-"

The glaive beam went off, cutting across the shield wing of their Mantis Fighter. There was a deep, low hiss before a giant explosion rocked the ship. Notch's door on the left creaked and ballooned forwards, just holding on.

"Magmar!" Notch gasped. On the comms, Lisandra was speaking.

"Magmar, do you copy? Magmar, answer me if you can. Do you copy? Do you copy, Magmar?"

All sorts of warnings were going off on Notch's screen, the most worrying of all the fire alert. "Lisandra, what do we do?"

"Put out those fires, of course! I'll do the weapons, shields and piloting."

Notch opened their mouth, but hesitated. Then: "Yes, Capt'n."

"We'll win this yet!"

The young Mantis grabbed an extinguisher and held it awkwardly in their hands as they ventured towards the door. They tried opening it but the controls were busted, so instead they kicked it down. Almost immediately a plume of smoke rushed out, causing Notch to hack and cough. Without any cloth, they opted to keep low to the ground and continue.

The first room was the ruined door system, and everything was on fire. The flames were dancing all around the corridor, mocking Notch as they attempted to put it out. Feeling their carapace beginning to smoke, the Mantis decided to drop all efforts to rescue this part of the ship and instead went after Magmar.

They struggled in the fire and heavy smoke. The oxygen system was still on, but it only served to further feed the flames. Eventually they managed to knock down two more doors and came across the shield room.

The room was completely engulfed, the system emitting a dangerous looking yellow smoke as it burnt out. In the middle was a white line carved into both the floor and the roof; the glaive beam's path. On either side of it was a dark, smoking figure with a large head.

"Mag-Magmar." Notch wheezed, and knelt down to their dismembered crewmate. The Mantis was limp and unresponsive. "Magmar...!"

A sinking feeling pulled on Notch's chest, but they knew now was not an appropriate time to mourn. With blurry vision they tried to stand, but their head swam and they toppled to the ground, fighting for breath.

"Notch!" Somebody was shouting in the distance, and a dull thump sounded. Notch dumbly absorbed this information, completely incapacitated by the fire. Somewhere in their mind was the nagging thought that they were going to die if they didn't get up, but they didn't have the strength to rise. Everything was bright and flickering and fading, and they closed their eyes.

That was, of course, until the floor tilted sharply downwards and they slid into oblivion. At first they thought they had slipped into some sort of hell, but a voice spoke up.

"Notch, you must rouse yourself before you slip into the void."

"Sem?" Notch rasped. "How..."

"Your cages bars were always a little too wide to hold me." They pulled on the Mantis' arm. "Stand up; you are too heavy to carry, and this ship won't last long."

Notch groaned. "I... can't..."

"Need a hand?" There was a voice from above.

"Lisandra." Sem stood up. "What are you doing?"

"I heard sounds." The great warrior leant down and effortlessly picked up Notch. "You saved one of my crewmembers, Zoltan. Thank you! I thought I was all alone, but we have a fightin' chance now!"

Sem did not follow. "I'd rather go down with the ship than fight."

"Suit yourself!" Lisandra waved at the top of the stairs, where smoke was beginning to gather. "Some of us have better survival instincts!"

The Zoltan shook their head, then sat down on the floor and began to meditate.

Notch looked up. "Lisandra, Magmar... is-"

"Yeah, yeah, the guy's dead." Lisandra set Notch on their feet in the weapons room and began beating back the flames. "There's no reason to be sad; he died like a Mantis. Glaive beam to the face, what a way to go!"

The young Mantis felt their legs shaking, but they managed to stay on their feet. "Really? So... what now?"

Lisandra tore out a piece of the wall and leant it against the battered door. The flames licked at the edges.

"That pirate captain has been taunting me with his stupid rock face. They shut off the glaive beam and are just watchin' and waitin' for us to burn out. I tried to shoot 'em, but we only need one more laser shot before we break their overshield and I can beam in." They grinned dangerously. "Whaddya say we give these 'dirty pirates' a taste of justice?"

"We're also... pirates."

The great Mantis chuckled. "Smart aleck. Why don't you fire the last shot?"

Notch limped to the controls, where they touched the screen. Almost immediately they stepped back. "The weapons are too... damaged."

"What?"

"There's only one system bar left... we need two to fire the burst laser."

"There were two when I was last here! Nothing's changed, except for-" Lisandra looked over to the piece of wall they had ripped off to barricade the door. "Curse the void, I kinda had a feeling that was important! Arghhh..."

They then paused, and with a smirk stalked out of the room towards the engines.

"Where are you going?" Notch called hoarsely.

"We're winning this fight."

The young Mantis blinked. They glanced nervously at the barricaded door, where the fire was beginning to break through again.

Before they could do anything, the sound of shouting came from the engines.

"Put me down!" A rather outraged voice demanded. "I swore never again to participate in the killing of another creature. _Put me down_!"

Lisandra kicked down the door, Sem's glowing green body grasped firmly with two hands. The Zoltan appeared to be fighting with all their might, but it was no use.

"See? This Zoltan simply standing in the room should give us enough power."

The Mantis checked. Sure enough, it was and the laser began to charge.

"Notch!" Sem reached out. "Don't do this. There are better ways to resolve this conflict than violence. If you can get in the helm-"

"Shaddup!" Lisandra snapped. "A Mantis never backs away from a good ol' fight. I'm doing you a favour by draggin' you out here so we can win. Think of it as a thank you for savin' my crew."

"Please." Sem pleaded. "I could never forgive myself if it was my power that was used to end lives."

"Just do it, Notch!"

The young Mantis snapped to attention. "Yes, Capt'n." They aimed at the ship and fired.

" _No_!"

The three watched the lasers travel towards the pirates. Two struck the Zoltan overshield and pierced it, leaving them vulnerable.

"Nice work, Notch!" Lisandra dropped Sem to the ground, who collapsed in a defeated heap. "They're powering up that glaive beam, so teleport me into the weapons!"

"Yes, Capt'n."

"Glory through violence!"

Notch redirected power as the captain left, acutely aware of a broken groaning sound from behind.

There was still a sinking feeling in their chest, but strangely enough it was no longer for Magmar.


End file.
